BATON ROUGE – Neither side appears too happy with the outcome of a meeting between established government officials of the city-parish and those planning the new government of St. George.

Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, her staff and attorney Mary Olive Pierson met with Andrew Murrell and others Wednesday morning at city hall for the fist time since voters approved the ballot item earlier this month.

Murrrell left disgruntled and later described the meeting as awkward.

The mayor avoided a TV interview about the meeting but released a statement through a spokesperson calling for more details.

“We are still very unclear about what their specific plans are,” the mayor said in the statement.

She chastised organizers of St. George: “Now is the time to behave like leaders.”

The mayor refused to acknowledge the area by name on camera when she pitched a list of road projects later Wednesday.

“… in that specific proposed city that you mentioned,” there are road projects the city-parish will fund through a road tax passed last December.

“It certainly speaks of equity and inclusion,” the mayor said.

"It's an awkward conversation; You're meeting with someone who intends to sue you. To that end, again, I thought it was a first meeting and we got some initial first meeting info and jitters and stuff out of the way and hopefully we can have more productive meetings in the future," Murrell said.  "For the people that live in St. George, understand that St. George is ready to move forward, we're ready to be productive and we're ready to work together for the betterment of St. George." 

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